GFW Live is Now Free

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Microsoft removes Games for Windows Live multiplayer fees.

By Jimmy Thang

Microsoft has announced it will be dropping its Games for Windows Live multiplayer fees, which would make its online gaming service free to use for publishers, developers, and the gaming community. The announcement was made at the company's 2008 Gamefest event held in Seattle, Washington. Previously, publishers and developers had to pay to use GFW Live for their games, but not only has that been dropped, by now companies will have access to Microsoft's matchmaking servers free of charge. PC gamers will also get something out of today's announcement as they will have access to GFW Live's Gold membership features-- multiplayer achievements, matchmaking, cross-platform and more—for free.

While gamers could previously get free access to GFW Live through its Silver membership, the service limited players to a one gamertag, single-player only achievements, and more. Players who wanted the features contained in the Gold pack had to pay $7.99 a month, or $49.99 a year. By giving players these options for free, Microsoft Entertainment's devices division CTO Chris Satchell said the movement would "…improve Windows gaming," according to Develop Mag.

On top of making GFW Live multiplayer free, Microsoft also announced a new updated Marketplace for the platform, which will give gamers access to free and paid downloadable content in the form of demos, movies, trailers, and more. Along with the new upcoming Marketplace is the announcement of a new redesigned user interface, which will launch later this year. Satchell admitted that the current interface wasn't the best for PC gaming, "the first UI was good but was too console-centric. We took what we know and converted it to Windows, but it wasn't what windows gamers wanted."

According to Develop Mag, Satchell was very excited about the announcement and said, "…if there was ever a time to get into Windows gaming with Games for Windows Live, this is the time to do it."